The next section of the book deals with chapters 3 through 7. Chapter 3 starts with what Friedman calls the triple convergence. He classifies this as the coming together of three specific things that allowed the most recent globalization to flourish. The first convergence is considered to be the culmination of the ten flatteners. This is called one of the convergences because of the importance it had on global collaborations. It took time for these flatteners to all come together and combine themselves into the global network that they are now. The second convergence includes the new business software that was invented and how that by adapting that software altered business practices. The convergence of these new practices with the global world will take time to become universal and fully implemented in relations. Friedman labels the third convergence as the most critical to global economics and politics. The main idea that makes this third convergence work is horizontal collaboration. Never before were so many people able to connect and compete with their thoughts and ideas. Now with the establishment of the internet highways and software that could speak back and forth people who weren't able to connect before now had the access and ability to input. The biggest new player to the playing field in recent years has been India. India has led the way in developing to fit into the global economy, adapting to the culture of business in the playing field and a new generation has risen which is labeled as the zippies. After moving away from a government of socialism, India's next generation pushed itself into the global information market. The zippies are defined as the young adults with the strive and "zip" to work towards a destination not a destiny and having the mindset to succeed. India isn't concerned with being on the receiving end of the criticism by Americans about jobs being outsourced to there and they believe that Americans shouldn't be either. They believe we should focus on the raising our bar and continue innovating or we will be left behind. China has its own set of zippies that are striving to be better and better. Bill Gates said something in this section that really got me thinking. He made the point that with the world being more flat now there was a much better chance for raw genius talent to succeed. It is no longer enough to just be average and born in a well developed area because right beneath our eyes the number of well developed places is ever increasing. Friedman makes it important to note that this triple convergence that has taken place over the last 25 years is only the warm-up and that what's in store for the future will blow all of this right out of the water. These convergences move us to a new reality which will take the world by storm and that is the sorting out of companies and communities now that they have the means to communicate and collaborate no matter where they set up shop. Foreign companies have done a good job at diversifying their locations of business so that they can succeed in the flat world but on the other hand, America has not positioned itself in good terms to succeed in the flat world. The old way the vertical world where companies commanded and controlled the global market is now being overtaken by the horizontal world where it is now crucial to collaborate and connect in order to be a contender in the global market. Everything will have to be sorted out to determine who owns what, and where everyone stands within that. The next section looks at how Americans are affected by the likings of this flat world. With China and India entering the global markets, Americans have seen an increase in unemployment. Wipro president, Vivek Paul said it best when he compared the connection of these two powers to the global market. He said that the first thing we see is the influx of capacity, followed by an increase of unemployment elsewhere. The capital is soon reallocated though and in the end everyone will benefit. Friedman states that instead of cutting ties with the “railroad” we should embrace it, and improve on the tools the country needs in order to have its share of the capital. He then points to the broad groups of people that will be necessary to make our economy stand tall with the world. He lists them as the great collaborators, synthesizers, explainers, leveragers, adapters, green people, math lovers, and localizers. He makes it clear that these are categories that which a person may full under more than one and that there will be more and more developing along the way. Learning how to fall into as many categories as you can is the key to making yourself more adaptable to succeed in this flat world. Friedman then turns his focus to education and the competition of education. The question arises in the flat world as to what course of education is most needed in order to survive. The answer isn’t clear cut and, as seen throughout different cultures, can be interpreted in many different ways. The most important is to learn how to learn. By learning how to learn you can be more adaptable to change because you have the knowledge to go out and better yourself and constantly absorb new information. Navigation is also a key because the internet is a vast place and without proper knowledge of reliable sources or validated information we could come up wrong on many topics. Friedman also spends some time on the passion and curiosity quotients. He puts so much into these numbers because he feels that these provide you with the most amount of difference. This makes you stand out, and by having these tools; you have a much better shot of solving problems and succeeding in the flat world. The flat world puts a lot more into the horizontal passing of information and along with that we must have the creativity and brain power to interpret and improve in order to flourish. We have to mold our students and younger generations to have all these tools to succeed by pushing the importance of them through their secondary years and making the tools key to admission and success in college/real world. We have the country; we just need the willingness of the people and the strength of their minds to adapt to the new world. We have done it before and we need to do it again. The world is changing and we cannot be stubborn to think that we can just cruise through it. We must change our ways of learning, our abilities as people, and fight to succeed.
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